One of the five companies awarded a medical marijuana cultivation license by Arkansas regulators on Tuesday involves a prominent TV personality in the state, a fact she made public in an emotional on-air statement.

“I wanted to be the first to tell you, because this information will be made public soon,” Donna Terrell of Fox 13 said at the tail end of a segment about the new cannabis licenses. “I know this is a controversial subject, but let me show you why I wanted to be part of this. It’s because of her, my daughter Queah. She died from colon cancer seven years ago.”

Terrell, noting that Tuesday happens to be her daughter’s birthday, said medical cannabis could’ve helped ease some of her suffering.

“I know medical marijuana would not have saved her life, but based on my research and experience as her caregiver, I know she would have benefited greatly,” she said. “Medicinal marijuana would have made those last few months, weeks and days much more tolerable. I miss her every day.”

Tom Angell is the editor of Marijuana Moment. A 15-year veteran in the cannabis law reform movement, he covers the policy and politics of marijuana. Separately, he founded the nonprofit Marijuana Majority. Previously he reported for Marijuana.com and MassRoots, and handled media relations and campaigns for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
(Organization citations are for identification only and do not constitute an endorsement or partnership.)

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Congress needs to come up with a solution for banking access by the marijuana industry, a top federal Treasury Department official said on Wednesday. And he hopes that will happen by 2020, if not sooner.

Joseph Otting, the comptroller of the currency, told reporters that lawmakers “have to act at the national level to legalize marijuana if they want those entities involved in that business to utilize the U.S. banking system,” according to PoliticoPro.

Cannabis businesses acting in compliance with state law face uncertainty when dealing with federally regulated financial institutions. And banks potentially risk being penalized for servicing those businesses, leading many to avoid the industry altogether.

“If I’m a betting person, I’m like 25-30 percent maybe next year, but I would hope by 2020 we can get this issue resolved,” said Otting, who was also recently assigned to double duty as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

He previously called the existing situation “generally not healthy,” echoing comments made by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who said “it would be great if [the banking issue] could be clarified.”

Similarly, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has described the banking conflict as untenable. He said last year that his department was “reviewing the existing guidance,” referring to a 2014 Obama-era policy memo meant to provide direction for banks on how to service marijuana businesses.

“We do want to find a solution to make sure that businesses that have large access to cash have a way to get them into a depository institution for it to be safe,” he said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer Welcomes Major Cannabis Company To New York’s Hemp Industry

Canadian marijuana giant Canopy Growth Corporation will enter the nascent U.S. hemp industry by building a massive farming and production center in southern New York, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Monday.

Canopy has yet to finalize its plans for an exact location—a contract could be signed as soon as Monday, Schumer said—but the company could eventually support “up to 400 jobs” in hemp cultivation, processing and product manufacturing at what would be a “first of its kind” center for the just-legalized U.S. hemp industry, the senator said.

Once a key American crop—George Washington famously grew hemp at Mount Vernon, and there was a stand of hemp plants in northern Virginia where the Pentagon now stands—the U.S. now lags far behind other countries in hemp production, a result of the country’s broad outlawing of cannabis decades ago.

Eventually, Canopy plans to invest “between $100-$150 million” into a New York State-based industrial hemp farm, Schumer said, with other companies potentially drawn to the sector by such a prominent anchor business.

“Hemp is a very valuable product and a burgeoning crop here” in southern New York, said Schumer, offering a very brief remedial education in the plant for those present at a press conference he convened. “I’m not kidding when I say this, but hemp is everywhere.”

“This is going to be a major shot in the arm” for the area, he added.

“Hemp” is more of a legal than a botanical distinction. Under U.S. law, cannabis sativa with 0.3 percent or more THC is considered “marijuana” and falls under federal drug-control laws. Cannabis with less than 0.3 percent THC is considered industrial hemp.

Hemp has been legal to import and process, but until very recently, hemp cultivation was mostly illegal in the U.S.

That prohibition that ended when President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law last month. The previous 2014 version of the Farm Bill created a pilot program for states that wished to legalize small-scale hemp cultivation as part of research programs.

Based on that success and on growing support for an end to cannabis prohibition nationwide, the 2018 Farm Bill legalized cultivation of hemp outright. Almost immediately, politicians began touting the crop’s potential as a miracle product and an economic boon with enthusiasm once reserved only for acolytes of hemp evangelist Jack Herer.

Marijuana legalization hasn’t hurt alcohol sales in the years since legal markets were established in Colorado, Washington State and Oregon, according to a new study from an alcohol trade association.

The Distilled Spirits Council looked at alcohol tax and shipment data before and after legalization to determine whether cannabis reform impacted sales of spirits, beer or wine in legal states.

“Simply put, the data show there has been no impact on spirits sales from recreational marijuana legalization,” the council’s chief economist, David Ozgo, said in a press release on Thursday.

“We now have four years of retail recreational marijuana sales history in Colorado and Washington state, and three years in Oregon, and each of these markets remain robust for spirits sales,” he said. “We did this study because there is a lot of misinformation circulating about the impact of recreational marijuana legalization on distilled spirits and the wider alcohol market.”

Per capita spirits sales actually increased slightly in post-legalization years, which was consistent with national trends. Sales were up 7.6 percent in Colorado, 5.4 percent in Washington and 3.6 percent in Oregon.

Via the Distilled Spirits Council.

The trade association also analyzed beer and wine sales during the same period. For beer, sales were down marginally, with drops of 3.6 percent in Colorado, 2.3 percent in Washington and 3.6 in Oregon. But again, that’s consistent with national trends, according to the study.

Via the Distilled Spirits Council.

Wine sales were mixed across the three states: Up 3.2 percent in Colorado, down 3.1 percent in Washington and up .7 percent in Oregon.

Via the Distilled Spirits Council.

The Distilled Spirits Council also used their analysis as an opportunity to plug their policy recommendations to lawmakers in states considering marijuana legalization. While the association has declined to take a position on whether to legalize, it shared a list of recommendations ranging from equitable taxes on cannabis and alcohol to THC content disclosure requirements.

Reform advocates have questioned whether legal access to marijuana would adversely impact alcohol sales, with more people opting to consume cannabis over booze. There is some research that indicates the alcohol industry is being interrupted in medical marijuana states, but more data is needed.